CirBTC will be developed under “high” standards of regulatory compliance, Circle says.
Institutional users would be the main target that Circle targets with this product.
Circle, the issuing company of the USDC and EURC stablecoins, announced on April 2, 2026 the upcoming launch of Circle Wrapped Bitcoin (cirBTC). It is a tokenized version of bitcoin (BTC) that will have advantages of use in institutional markets and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
cirBTC token will maintain a 1:1 parity with the original bitcoin. According to the release From the firm, the asset has a full BTC backing that can be independently verified directly on the Bitcoin network in real time.
cirBTC is designed to meet the needs of over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks, market makers (market makers) and lending protocols that require high standards of regulatory compliance.
The company emphasizes that cirBTC’s architecture inherits the trust and liquidity foundation of its previous products, USDC and EURC. The goal, they say, is to offer a version of tokenized bitcoin that functions as a global standard within the regulated financial infrastructure.
Circle does not say it in its statement but it is possible (and probable) that this cirBTC has a “freezing” function, just as USDC and EURC have so that those addresses placed on a “blacklist” cannot move their funds (which can serve in the event of a court order of seizure, for example). In this, cirBTC would differ from real bitcoin, which does not have a supervisory company that can freeze addresses.
CriptoNoticias reported that between 2023 and 2025 Circle froze 372 addresses with USDC by court order.
One of the competitive advantages of this new asset, according to the company statement, is its integration with Circle’s technology stack. cirBTC will work natively with:
- Circle Mint: To facilitate the issuance and direct redemption of the asset.
- Arc: The company’s institutional infrastructure platform.
- USDC: It will allow fluid operation between the dollar stablecoin and the new wrapped bitcoin.
Regarding its technical implementation, Circle confirmed that cirBTC will be a multi-chain asset. In its initial phase, the token will be launched on the Ethereum network and in the Arc infrastructure. However, the architecture is designed to expand to other networks in the future, facilitating capital mobility and cross-chain use.
Circle has enabled a waiting list for institutions interested in accessing the asset before its widespread deployment. The company has not yet provided an exact date for the start of operations, but has indicated that the launch would be close in time.